Malaysia will soon be home to a premium-cabin-only B737-300, with Ascend Airways Malaysia expected to take its first aircraft, LY-CHF (msn 29057), in mid-March and deploy it into the Southeast Asian charter market.
The aircraft is currently operated by KlasJet (KLJ, Vilnius), a fellow subsidiary of Avia Solutions Group (ASG). The holding's spokesperson told ch-aviation that KlasJet plans to ferry the 27.3-year-old aircraft to Malaysia and sell it before arranging a dry lease for Ascend. LY-CHF seats 68 passengers.
"The aircraft will support both KlasJet's and Ascend's charter operations in Southeast Asia for at least six months, with the possibility of extension," the spokesperson said.
Ascend Airways Malaysia is the sister company to Ascend Airways (YD, London Gatwick). ASG says its Malaysian start-up plans to commence operations with B737 aircraft and share capacity between the UK and Southeast Asia after operations start in the near future. Ascend Airways recently told ch-aviation it envisages having a fleet of 15-20 aircraft on each AOC, with around half of the fleet rotating between the two units.
Ascend Airways Malaysia also plans to take a B737 freighter from another ASG carrier.
ASG has been particularly active in Southeast Asia, establishing the now-active BBN Airlines Indonesia (0B, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) in 2022 as well as Thai SmartLynx Airlines (THB, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi), Avion Express Philippines, and Ascend Airways Malaysia in 2024. The latter three remain in the development stage and have yet to commence operations, though both expect to do so shortly. The holding also acquired Skytrans (QN, Cairns) in Australia in 2024, another off-season market where European ACMI operators are establishing a presence.
